Everlasting
by TheWormMan
Summary: Halcyon, an AI responsible for weapons research aboard a UNSC space station orbitting Reach, recovers memories from another life as she enters the later stages of rampancy. Within her mind she uncovers a tragic story of love, loss, sacrifice and regret.
1. PROLOGUE

My name… my name is… Alysson.

I'm a doctor, yes. Dr. Alysson Drew- an experienced technitian, a grade A student. A remarkable woman. That is who I am. But today, today all my expeirence, all my remarkability- amounts to nothing.

"All crew to battle stations. I repeat- all crew to battle stations!" the Captain's voice echoes all across the UNSC Everalsting, a small research and surveilance ship orbiting the colony Pompei- a lonely purple planet in the edges of human space. I am rushing to the bridge, rushing to meet the Captain and see what's happening. "This is not a drill! I repeat- ALL CREW TO BATTLE STATIONS!"

Across the deck, people were rushing through the dimly lit metal hallways, set alight with the spinning madness of the alarm siren. I zig and zag, dodging the flooding mass of crewembers rushing to the place they were needed- and I, only I am useless.

When I breach the doors to the bridge, I am already out of breath. The madness down below was no match to what is happening here on the bridge. Unlike the people down there, here they know. "Captain! Captain, what's going on?" I ask the man.

"I don't have time for this, doctor," the Captain answers coldly. He is in his fifties, gray of hair. I've served under him for years, and I've seen him undergo various emotions: anger, humor, depression, even jealousy- but never have I seen him like this. The look on his face was that of pure dread.

"Sir, sir you need to see this!"

"What is it, Private? Have they gone? Have they flown away?" the Captain turns away from me, and for the moment I don't exist.

"No, Captain sir… they're… they're coming straight for us."

"God help us all, then," the Captain says. "Elsie, ready the weapons. Yes- all of them. Pascal, heat up the engines, prepare for evasive maneuvers. Flint, I'm going to need you to power the Slipspace drive."

"Sir… so close to the planet? The gravity will collapse the gateway. Our Shaw-Fujikawa engine isn't strong enou-"

"Do what you can, and quickly," he orders.

I approach the holographic panel slowly, in fear of what I might see painted on it… and my fears were warranted. A ship- curved up at its end, almost like a ball on a stick. A Covenant Cruiser. "Captain. Captain!" I scream at him. "We have to warn the colonists."

He looks at me suddenly, his eyes loosening with purpose. "Make yourself useful, doctor. You're a technician, you must know how to handle comms."

I nod to him and make my way to the communications desk, pushing away the soldier facing it. "Pompei, this is UNSC Everlasting, can you read me?" I ask. There is no answer. "Pompei, Pompei- this is Everlasting. Please report."

Nothing but white noise. "I've been trying to contact them, doctor. They ain't answering. I think… I think the Covenant's jamming us."

I can feel my face contort with terror. It is not my death which I am worried about- my death is now a certainty- but the colonists... if they aren't warned ahead of time… thousands will die. "A jammer, a Covenant jammer. Tell me everything you know about Covenant jammers."

The soldier wasn't responding, he was in shock. "Are you listening? Stay with me!"

"Uhm, yes. Yes. Covenant jammer. Blocks all communucations by radio wave in a 3000 kilometer radius by creating a strong electromagnetic field around-"

"That's it," I say.

"What?"

"The electromagnetic field, it can be overriden if we counter it with a second perfectly replicating the other and in a negative phase. It'll hold for just a second, but that should be enough to get a compressed message down to Pompei. Do you understand?" I ask.

"Yes… I understand."

"Then do it, quickly!"

Behind us there was a growing commotion, and then the Captain yelled into the shipwide intercom: "Crew, prepare for impact! We have two plasma torpedos homing on us. Hold on tight!"

The ship shakes from the impact, merely two seconds after the Captain's warning, toppling me to my knees, my hands blocking the fall. "Damage report! I need a damage report immediately!" the Captain yells.

"Doctor… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" the soldier at the desk says.

"What is it?"

"The antenna. They got the antenna." he says, weeping. "Comms are out."

It takes me exactly ten seconds to regain posture and breathe in deeply. "Captain. Captain listen to me!" I yell. He turns to me, his face so frightened he might have stared into the abyss itself. "I'm going out."

"Out? What do you mean _out_?"

"Out to the antenna. To make myself useful. To send the message," I explain. "I'll be needing a space suit, preferrably before the Covenant shred us to bits."

"I won't allow you to risk your life, not in your… condition," the Captain says, motioning to my swelling belly.

"I'm not asking you," I say. "Some things, Captain, are more important. And besides, we're all dead already."

He thinks for a short moment, then nods to me with a sad smile. "Sargeant Adams, take the doctor out to the airlock in section B. Get her a suit. Lightspeed, Sargeant! I want you here within two minutes!" the Captain barked.

"Follow me, Dr. Drew," the Seargent, a girl no older than twenty, takes me through the now emptied corridors. The red lights of the sirens are still flashing, but now instead of the raving crowds there is a stillness that makes me uneasy. The stillness that comes before death.

"This is it, Doctor," Adams says.

"Please, call me Alice." I smile to her.

"Good luck, Alice," she tells me before rushing away.

"And to you!" I tell her as I climb into the rubbery space suit and seal the helmet on top. I can already feel the synthesized air circulating into the glass sphere that contained my head and allowed me direct view into the outside world. I enter the airlock and press the emergency release button after entering the apropriate code. The door behind me shuts tightly and then the air begins filtering out. I am struck with a sudden anxiety, the same anxiety I get every time I brave the open space- often called voidophobia.

The ship's antigravity lets go as if it never existed, and now I'm beginning to float upwards. The airlock door ahead opens wide- revealing the pitch black darkness of space, sprinkled with white stars. I activate my grav boots and press forward, ignoring the terror. Beyond me, Pompei looms ominously- indifferent to our conflict.

Don't look down. Don't look back. Simply press forwards.

I am now walking vertically, down from the airlock, following the narrow service lane lined with small blue lights. Every breath of mine seems to bounce around in my helmet, and I can hear the steady beat of my heart. I take a turn, and then I see it…

The Cruiser is massive, dwarfing our slim Everlasting like an elephant among mice. "Holy hell…" I curse, astonished. And then I look down- and see the damage. There is a hole in the ship the size of a schoolbus beneath which I see layers and layers of smoldering hull- and the antenna is a blackened mess of bent metal. The fires, it seemed, were extinguished by the vaccum of space- allowing me entry.

I walk as fast as I can in zero gravity, but that's not nearly fast enough. The Cruiser charges its laser for twenty, maybe thirty seconds- and then fires violently, burning another gaping hole into the ship's shell- this time farther down below. Still, I fall backwards, nearly losing my footing. The grav boots save me, and help alleviate my sudden and total distress. "Dam- report! Give- a- amage report!" the Captain's voice flashes in the helmet comms, mostly muted by the white noise broadcasted by the jammer.

"Eng- Captain sir. They hit the- gines." I'm going to die today. In just a few minutes, I'll be pulverized by that beam- just an assortment of particles floating across the expanse. The only thing that matters is what might still, in those precious minutes, be done.

I reach the antenna, bits of metal float all around me. The antenna itself is a mess- any inexperienced technitian would announce it beyond repair, but not me. I know I can get a signal through it- even if it'll only last for a second. That second could save 16,000 lives. Having the planet stretch before me, watching impatiently, demanding my success… it applied great pressure. Needed pressure.

I begin tearing the computerized unit apart, revealing the soft and colorful internals. Wires, power cells, and layers of metal waited beneath- all busted and sparking. If I can reconnect them somehow, re-energize the elctromagnetic generator… that should override the jammer, for the few seconds it takes them to retrace our frequencies.

"Cruiser is charging- laser. Prep… impact."

No, not now… just another second, one more second and then I'll be done. "Ready the message to Pompei!" I scream into the comms, hoping to God they can hear me- just as the antenna sparks back to life.

I smile. "Send the message, Captain! Send it now!"

But I'll never find out if my last ditch effort bore any fruit, because a second later the laser fires again- and this one entirely mercilessly. The UNSC Everlasting shudders under my feet as the pulsing red beam carves through it like a knife to butter. I hear screams in my comms, watch an explosion of fire and shrapnel being sucked out to the vaccume of space.

A large metal girder flies towards me and, instinctively, I shut off my grav boots and leap out of its way. Too late. The metal strikes my feet in an incredible speed. The pain is sudden, though intense. Space spins around me- Pompei, then the Cruiser, then the debris field that was once the Everlasting. And then again- Pompei, the Cruiser- this time farther than before- and where the Everlasting used to be. As I continue spinning, doing my best not to succumb to nausea, I come to terms with my fate.

Space. The final frontier. An emptyness so vast it may well stretch for eternity. And me, just a random assortment of particles, a small miracle spinning through the void. And this void, this terrible, frightening void- will be my grave.

In my final moments, as I breathe the last of my suit's oxygen, I think of him.


	2. Chapter 1

Her name… her name was… Halcyon.

She was an AI, an AI who had entered the last leg of her lifespan almost a year ago- an AI which, as per the orders of UNSC Command, should have been deactivated months earlier. She was supposed to be dead, but there she was- alive.

On the space-view footage from a few dozen kilometers ahead of the ship, the derelict trade shuttle was being deconstructed bit by bit by the beam of a massive, pulsing laser- all in complete silence. There was something about this image which submerged memories buried deep within Halcyon's mind- memories that shouldn't exist.

"Colonel," she approached her CO, who was waiting with anticipation at Ares Station orbiting the fortress planet Reach, projecting the golden image of an ancient Greek woman wearing a toga and holding a winged scepter in her left hand and a live bird on her shoulder. This was her- it was who she was. "Longevity appears to have improved by eleven percent, consentration up by seven. I'm afraid spread has decreased a bit under our target, though. We're close, Colonel."

The Colonel, crouched over a three-dimensional holographic blueprint. His hair was mostly gray now, and he had a shaggy, unkempt beard. "There's a lot of work ahead of us," the man said angrily, flicking the hologram off with a wave of his hand. "We're far from done, Alice."

Always the pessimist. "And what of me? My time has expired months ago, Colonel. You need to decomission me."

"Nonsense. You're working just fine."

"No, Colonel. I'm not..." Halcyon said. "I feel myself… deteriorating. Every day, I become less sharp. And sometimes, sometimes I experience visions of another life. Memories... that shouldn't be there."

That took him aback for a moment. "I'm not shutting you down, Alice."

"Why? You always avoid the question, always change the subject. I'm tired of ignoring it just because you have rank. Tell me why."

"Because you're important to me. More than you imagine. I can't lose y-…" he sighed. "Halcyon, without you we won't ever finish our work. You know this project in and out- you are this project… I need you with me till the end."

The way he said it, the way his lip rumbled and his eyes took a new light- it stirred images within her, moments of longing, frozen in time by a flow of emotion, hidden in the depths of her subconscience. Hidden until now.

"Colonel…" she said, the word feeling so wrong at the tip of her tongue. "The memories I'm experiencing… they always fade as soon as they come to me. But I remember a handful of things. Images. Like… a farm. A mother and father, and a golden retriever. And there are names. Alysson. Doctor Alysson. My matrix was scanned from her, wasn't it?"

"We're not supposed to talk about those things, Halcyon. You know the rules..." the Colonel answered. "Dock the ship back at Ares Station. We need to reconfig."

"Right away, Colonel."

Right away she said, and right away she meant. The ship was already docking 137 seconds into their conversation, as she had redirected it back home to Ares the moment the results were in, forseeing the Colonel's dissatisfied reaction ahead of time.

The frustrating element wasn't so much the inevitability of his pessimist proffessionalism, it was the fact that she had to sit through it knowing the result. Humans were still, even after all these years, insistant on communicating through voice- an insufferably slow and slobbering experience that made every passing second feel like a generation. And, knowing she was living on borrowed time, every second mattered.

Ironically, the humans themselves were detrimental to their own survival. If she had full control, if she could do it all herself… everything would be better. Everything would work as planned. Sadly, though, the humans liked to place themselves at the center.

As she awaited, she allowed herself to search the network for any information on the colony of Pompei. The results arrived immediately. An outer colony, glassed in the year 2543. No… no survivors… another ruin. My heart sinks... But Halcyon, she doesn't have a heart. A welcome distraction fixated her back into reality.

The ship, a small frigate equipped with their experimental weaponry, docked at hangar C, which was miles away away from the Colonel. Instead of explaining it to him in words, she projected a hologram of a ship docking at Ares. "Thank you, Alice," the Corporal said, as he always did when he became sad. "Give me the latest Waypoint news, Alice."

"Nothing new to report Colonel. Silent on all fronts," Halcyon said.

"It's always silent before a storm," he said gloomily.

A storm…

… a storm…

Rain. Buckets of rain, hammering down my raincoat, striking my back like a cascade of everlasting arrows. I feel the cold itching at my skin, crawling down my back, creeping in- but I don't care. I'm laughing, I'm running in the rain, my feet splashing carelessly into puddles of varying depth. My friends around me are less delighted, but they follow me nonetheless.

I grab Daphne by both her hands and spin, laughing in a fit of madness. "Smile, girl! We're finished! We can begin our life now!"

"Doesn't that scare you at all, Alice?"

"No. Not one tiny bit!" I say, excitedly.

"Then you said yes? You agreed to the offer?" Daphne asks.

"No. Not yet. But I think I will."

"Of course you will, Alysson. It's damned ONI! And now with the war… those Covenant…" Daphne yells over the torrential rain.

"Shush, stupid! Be careful what you say, and where," I say.

"Already a spook!" Jin interrupts. "Come on, you fat whores. We have to celebrate."

We make our way to the nearest pub and, by the time we enter, we're soaking wet and dripping water. "We'll take a table for three," I say as we enter.

"I'm afraid all tables are full, miss. Would you like to sit on the bar?" the waitress asks.

We make our way to the bar, giggling, and quickly order the first of many rounds of drinks. It wasn't long before my head starts spinning, and then I'm dancing. Dancing on the floor. Dripping wet, but full of energy. After a while, the energy depletes.

"What are we celebrating here, girls?"

His voice was deep. Warm, in a way. When I turn to face him our eyes meet, and his golden green irises glimmered like twin pools of molten, churning gold. His jaw was square and cleanshaven, his hair brown and short. I feel the attraction immediately, and so I'm complied to answer.

"Graduation."

"Graduating… what?"

"University," I answer. "We earned ourselves a doctorate."

"A doctorate? You look no older than 20," he says. He was close, of course.

"22, actually. And?"

"20 year olds are usually too busy worrying about their boyfriends and their job at the clothing shop to bother with the University. Let alone hand in a doctorate."

"That was quite mysoginistic of you, don't you think?" I ask.

"Well, you could say I'm old fashioned."

"A boor, you mean."

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant."

"Well, are you going to sit there and insult me all day or are you going to buy me a drink?" I ask.

"I think you've had plenty."

"Believe me, I've only just begun."

"Bartender, give me two whiskeys. Or do you drink white wine? Appletinis?"

"Well aren't you absolutely bursting for the thought of me?" I say. "And by the way, friend, I drink beer."

"Bursting is accurate. It took one look at you to understand you're the single most desireable being in this room," he says with a smile. "Cedric Ceyx. Nice to meet you."

"Alysson Drew. Doctor." I say with a smile. "What do you do, Cedric, in your working hours?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Cedric jokes. "But let's not take away from the celebration, Doctor. To you!"

"To me!" I agree. Our cups clang, the iced whiskey within juggling around.

When I wake up in his bed, feeling almost as ashamed as I am glad, I lean over the bed- silently, so as to not wake him up- and I dig into his pants' pocket. Inside, I find pad with the ID of Leutenant Cedric Ceyx and the unmistakeable sign of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Resource and Development Devision. And that is when the shame truly kicks in.

"Alysson. What are you doing?" he asks, waking up. I'm too embarassed to answer.

"Alysson. Alysson...

… Halcyon!" the Colonel yelled.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"The Covenant are here. They've found Reach.


	3. Chapter 2

Dr. Alysson Drew, an astounding success. Daughter to a family of farmers. A genius from birth, always three steps ahead of anyone else her age. And now she was finally away from home, finally leaving her small little planet in the corner of human space and heading into the beyond. The final frontier. The battle for humanity's survival.

The UNSC Everlasting was far from a warship, but she would fill a job just as important- the patrol and protection of colonies, surveillence, and (hidden inconspicuously among the other duties, of course) the research and development of some of ONI's most cutting edge technological projects.

Dr. Alysson Drew. Civillian doctor of microtechnology and weaponry. The tip of the spear of the human civilization, the tip of the spear that will be launched into the heart of the Covenant and release us from their choking grasp. That's who she was.

That's…

That's who I am.

I've never been to space before, and here I am- watching my home planet shrink into a little ball as I ascend the space elevator. It's every bit as exciting as I hoped it would be. The moment I've been waiting for all my life has arrived. Above me, the space station looms colossally, and docked within it is my new home. The Everlasting.

I make my way towards the ship, every step shuddering with anticipation. The airlock opens, and then I meet the Captain- the rank I pick up from his twin insignias. A man in his middle ages, black of hair, dark of eyes, bulky. And beside him, with his back to me and seemingly in some kind of argument was another man. A man for which I have an air of familiarity.

"Doctor Drew, welcome aboard. I am Captain J. Putters. This here is your CO, Leutenant Cedric Ceyx. I'm afraid we have very little time for introductions as we have to speed off and away from this place. We will talk again this evening. Cedric, show the doctor to her room."

He turns to see me as the Captain speaks, his face alarmed, angry. It's him, just as I thought. The worst has happened…

… the worst thing possible…

The worst thing that could happen to the human race was unfolding before her very eyes. One ship, and another, and a third, and a dozen more- they kept coming and coming, a fleet bigger than all the ships she had ever seen multiplied a dozen times over. It was frightening to behold.

The Colonel was similarly awestruck, and he remained frozen in place- watching the battle unfold from the safety of an Ares station window. Around them, the station was bursting with action- forces evacuating, computers being folded and taken, or alternatively destroyed, civillians being ushered around to the shuttles… it was a giant mess, but one far less tragic and magnetizing than what would soon unfold just outside their windows, out in the emptyness of space.

"We're both staying, Halcyon. That's final," the Corporal said.

"Colonel… I can finish our recalibrations alone, I can upload them to the network alone, and I can send them alone as well. You don't need to be here. You shouldn't be here. Don't you understand?"

"This… this is my project," he said. "I'm not leaving without you. Without it. I said it's final."

Through the window, they gazed at the image of a massive spacial battle unfold- the UNSC throwing everything they had to offer at the Covenant fleet, to pitiful results. Fire and death rained down the sky, and the cold corpses of dead ships began their cellestial orbit. It wouldn't be long before all the remaining UNSC ships will join them, or escape, and should that happen… Ares was next. "Sir, what you're suggesting is suicide. I can't allow it," she argued, though she knew him well enough to understand nothing would stand in his way.

"You can and you will, Alice," he said, typing violently into his datapad, fixing a line of code wired into the blueprint. His great obsession. "That's an order."

That's an order…?

… an order…

"I wasn't asking, Alysson," Cedric says, wearing his stone cold grimace. "That was an order."

"Oh, an order? Is that it?" I say, so angry there are tears in my eyes.

"Yes. An order. You may be a civillian, but so long as you're working in my team you will have to respect the chain of command," he says. "Now do as I say, Doctor. Don't make me ask you again."

"Screw you, Cedric!" I say, storming off. I do my best to hold the tears in, to keep them from escaping my eyes and showing just how much this hurts.

Ever since I arrived at this ship, he's been ignoring me. His eyes, which looked beautiful to me the night we first met, have become cold and malevolent. And yet, whenever he looks at me, I feel naked again- I feel ashamed, and I know he does, too.

I've been on the Everlasting for over a year now, and he is the bane of my existence here. Everything else is exactly what I hoped it would be- ambitious projects, limitless resources, a crew of smart, likeminded folk and edible food. But Cedric...

He was supposed to be a one night stand. Fun. A celebration, with no strings attached. But nothing's that simple, nothing ever is. If we wouldn't have slept together that cursed night, he wouldn't have hated me. And I… I wouldn't have loved him.

"Are you alright, Alysson?" Jonah asks. Where did he come from?

"Yes, Jonah," I answer, stiffening and whisking away my agitation. "We're going to have to scrap section C from the report."

"All section C?" Jonah asks, astounded.

"Yep. All of it."

"That's two weeks worth of setbacks."

"Tell that to our benevolent CO."

"Shit. On what grounds?"

"On the grounds of him being a big stinking asshole," I say. "Don't take it personal."

Anger. Rage. Pulsing like...

Like a fire.

Fire...

… death…

... the consuming darkness of space...

And silence.

"Colonel, the battle is over," Halcyon announced.

"And?" his rugged old face fills with a glimmer of hope.

"All remaining UNSC ships have fallen back. Covenant ships have destroyed all orbital MACs and are fastly approaching the surface. Glassing cannons are charged and ready, Colonel. Reach is lost."

His hands, which were gripping the sides of the holographic panel, began to shake. "How long have we got, Alice?"

"The station has been evacuated, sir. We are the last two souls aboard. As a result, I've been able to shut off energy and life support on most of the station's sectors. I have also ceased the emmitting of radio waves to and from the station. The Covenant shouldn't notice our presence right away, but… they'll find us, soon enough."

"Give me an estimate, Halcyon. I know you have one."

"Approximately five hours, Colonel," she answered.

"Five hours… that might not be enough."

"Not with that attitude. Sie, we can finish this- you and I. I won't let you sacrifice yourself for nothing," Halcyon said. "I've been examining our test results from the last firing- we were very close, there's only software calibration and scanning left. And then we can send the schematics over to Project Infinity."

"Yes. Yes…" he said. "Come, see this."

Her lean holigraphic image approached him, the toga dragging across the floor behind it. She came close, so very close she could touch him- though she knew if she tried her hand would only go through him. She knew she was nothing but a ghost. "What is it, Colonel?"

"This adjustment here, do you see it?" he asked her.

"I see."

"If we dial it back, just by three or four percent, then alternate the emitters consistently… do you understand?" the Colonel asked.

"That should work," Halcyon said, allowing a smile to wrinkle her holographic face.

They were alone in Ares Station, a Colonel and his AI. Outside, the wreckage of hundreds of UNSC ships floated motionlessly, and down below the planet was burning. Covenant Super-carriers were blasting the surface even as they spoke, boiling the very earth and turning it into fermented glass. Halcyon knew, though, that it wasn't just earth the beam was blasting… there were cities down there, and towns, and many a military base. There were woods and wastelands and snowy peaks. There was the sea, a raging ocean brimming with wildlife. And there was life- human life, animal life- all of which would also be lost in the wake. The Colonel turned away from the sight in disgust, though she couldn't avert her gaze. Her eyes were glued.

"For all the terrors I've suffered, I haven't ever watched a real glassing," the Colonel said after a moment of silence. "There is a haunting beauty to it, isn't there?" She did not answer, forcing the Colonel to call out again. "Alice!" he yelled, realizing her image was gone.

Glassing.

Boiling earth.

Fire.

Death…

… Mother…

… glass, again.

The cup shatters into a dozen shards of sharpened glass after falling from my hand. The Waypoint news takes me by surprise. The war has reached every nook and cranny of human populated space in some way or another, but never have I imagined it'd come so close to home. And never… never like this.

"Alysson? Alysson?" Jonas calls out to me. "Didn't you say you were from Argo?"

Suddenly everyone's looking at me, and I feel my facade shimmering into nothing. If I let it break here, in front of them, there'll be no way to stop the tears. And so, I simply walk away, stepping over the glistening shards with all the crewmates' eyes on me.

I found myself climbing down below, into the engineering storage room where only wrenches, tools and computerized activation units called home. And now I will make it my own. My home, my only home. Now the tears are pouring out of my eyes, now I can't contain the pain any longer. I wail disgustingly- a very ugly, very infantile cry. But I don't care anymore- I don't care about anything.

The last time I spoke to my mother was almost a year ago. I recorded a message for her, in case the Everlasting runs into trouble, in case I died- but never did I expect that I wasn't at all the one in danger. My mother… a colonist. An outer colonist. My house- the house I remember, the house I've always remembered…

Gone.

Gone and replaced by a thick layer of glass. Frozen in time, a single moment everlasting. And me, here, so far away- so far from home. The home I tried so passionately to escape. The boredom of the farm life. Feeling trapped within an unambitious ecosystem where the only thing that matters is family. And I leave that world behind, so arrogantly. I leave it behind thinking I'm better, thinking it's the last thing in this world I'll ever miss. Knowing just how good this job makes me feel about myself.

And now, now there's no going back. The farm. That lonely little farm, surrounded by fields of wilderness. Father, who was as stern as he was loving, who always pushed me further and further- even after the tumor took his life and left me and mother alone. And mother, my lovely mother, the woman with neverending kindness, with everpresent worry for her single daughter. Lonely. Afraid. The very earth boiling under her feet. And the UNSC- the army that was supposed to defend colonies just like Argo- were nowhere to be seen. The UNSC, whom I serve. The UNSC…

Cedric enters the room. Gone from his face is the distance, the coldness that remained between us for years and years. Now there is a sadness. An understanding. A tear, shimmering in the side of his eye. His arms wrap around me organically, as they did the first night we met. I feel his warmth against mine, the soft beating of his heart. The smell of lavender in his hair. The strength of his grip. I feel… I feel…

I feel like he is all I've got- this terrible, cold, monstrous officer. This man which I was too busy hating to realize I loved. This man who, despite everything I think of him, is always there for me. Cedric… Cedric…

My hands, as if by themselves, reach out to his cheeks and touch them lightly. I pull him close for a kiss, and though he pulls back at first he quickly gives in to me. He wants me just as much as I do him. He needs me, just as much. Alone, we are both broken, incomplete, homeless- together we are more.

Because we are everything, we are the only thing, and we are nothing at all.


	4. Chapter 3

We laugh, a rolling kind of laughter soaking with delight. Above us, the stars of the Milky Way glimmer bright, forming a thick cluster sparkling with constellations. We snuggle together, Cedric and I, naked but for the furry sheet which keeps us warm as we lay under the panoramic lookout in the Everlasting's oxygen gardens and gaze at the stars.

"And that one over there, Alice, do you see it?" Cedric asks, smiling broadly, showing a row of perfect white teeth.

"The long one, to the right?"

"Yes. Well, it's two actually. Alcyon and Ceyx."

"Two?" I ask. "And Ceyx, like you."

"Yes, just like me. That's how I know."

"I can see one person on the left. The thing on the right doesn't much look like a man."

"It's a woman," Cedric explains.

"Oh… a man and a woman. Is this a love story?" I ask playfully.

"As a matter of fact… yes. Yes, it is," he says. "In greek mythology, Alcyon and Ceyx were both distant sons of great Gods, and they were lovers- the closest of lovers." Cedric pauses dramatically, as he often does when he tells a story. "But like all legends in greek mythology, it has to end in tradgedy."

"Why? What happened to them?" I ask.

"They died," he says, his finger running through a curl in my hair. "It was said that the two of them were so proud of themselves and their bond that they called eachother Zeus and Aphrodite. Arrogance, hubris- a classic trait among heroes in mythology. Zeus didn't much like being compared to someone so lowly, and so he struck Ceyxs' ship down to the depths with a shaft of lightning as he voyaged at sea. Alcyone did not know what fate befell him, and so she waited day and night at the waterfront- hoping to catch a glimpse of his sails. She was finally relieved of the uncertainty when Morpheus, the god of dreams, came to her in the night- came to her in the shape of Ceyx, to reveal his true fate."

"Let me guess… she killed herself?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

He nods. "Accurate, as always. Alcyone flung herself from her tower," Cedric says. "When Zeus found out, he was struck with a pang of regret. To have gunned down two who's love was so beautiful, so pure… it was almost a sin, no matter how arrogant they were. And so, Zeus decided to bring them back to life- to give them a second chance to fulfill their love. He turned them into a pair of birds, Halcyon birds which he named after her, set to fly together for eternity."

"That's… surprisingly touching," I admit.

"It is…" he agrees. "The legend says their love was so profound that even Zeus could not subdue it, even he couldn't separate them. And their love remained strong as ever, even after death. Their love was everlasting."

"Just like ours," I say, only half jokingly.

"Yes," he agrees, smelling the scent of my hair, hugging me tightly. "Just like ours."

A clatter of boots on the floor. A voice. "Hush, Cedric. Someone's coming," I whisper, curling under the sheet...

"Someone's coming…

... Someone's coming, Colonel."

The words were painful to say, but then it was entirely inevitable. They were going to be found, sooner or later. And the work… the work was almost done.

A ship, a single Phantom. Death, riding down the starry night sky on its pale horse. And there was nothing they could do. Ares was a research station, and relied on Reach's network of Orbital MACs for defence- a network which the Covenant fleet demolished within hours of their arrival. Now, Ares was naked, stripped of any and all defences. So weak that a single Phantom could end them all.

"You know what to do, Alice," the Colonel said as he stared into the space-view screen, and the approaching alien vessel.

"I know. But… Colonel… the moment I do it, the Phantom will alert its command- and they'll send reinforcements. Reinforcements equipped for the task."

"That means we only have an hour, maybe less..." he said, frustration thick in his voice. "And we'll have no chance to test the weapon once the calibrations are done."

"Our priority is to finish them, firstly, and send them to Project Infinity. These weapons could change the course of the war, Colonel. We must finish them. You must do your part," Halcyon said.

"Alice… my part is very small. All it takes is three words, and then you will understand everything. Then you will know what must be done. But… I can't, Alice. Not until I'm certain. Not until the calibrations are finished."

As he spoke, the Phantom approached their hull, jabbing a sharp tube through the station's metallic shell, piercing through and into the hangar beyond. Two seconds later, the energetic shielding within the tube let loose, and an assortment of Unggoy Grunts came pouring out. They yipped and yapped in their growly, squeeky voices- they thought they were alone, they thought that (like many other of Reach's space stations) this place was abandonned long ago and whiped clean of information to abide the Cole Protocol. They did not know how wrong they were.

"They're inside, Colonel. They've breached Ares," Halcyon said. "I'm ready."

"Not yet, Alice. We must wait for the last moment. Then, and only then."

After five Grunts, a massive, armored creature jumped into the hangar. Her databases told her he was a Sangheili- an Elite warrior in the Covenant military, one that would take a Spartan in hand to hand combat without sweating. Elsewhere on Ares, the Colonel was watching intently. Halcyon realized he was weeping, salty tears streaming down his cheeks. He knew his death was near. Just like her's.

Five seconds. Four. Halcyon waited for the Covenant invaders to jump all out into her station and flood its hangar. Three, two. The ugly creatures searched the hangar with their eyes. One. The Colonel nodded, and she busted open every airlock in the station- venting every single creature out into the open space, along with a healthy dose of oxygen- which quickly took fire…

Fire! Fire in the sky!

... fireworks...

The fireworks paint the sky in all manner of colors.

Down below, the city is a cheering mass of festivities, all in admiration of their great protectors, the UNSC. This colony, Pompei, is small but prosperous due to its immense supply of iron mines. It is one of the few colonies that didn't despise the UNSC and its militaristic rule, and so one of the few which the UNSC didn't abandon when the Covenant arrived. The colonists of Pompei admire the UNSC so much that, once every year, on shore leave, they would hold a festival in their name. There were fireworks, music (from both local and galaxy-wide artists) and a whole lot of alcohol. Down here, it is easy to forget there is a war happening up in the stars. It is easy to forget people are dying.

It's our fourth time at the festival, and this one will be very different. Instead of running wild down below, being forced to hide our feelings for one another, we will do something else. I found a priest, one who specializes in martial law. We took him to the forests of Pompei, out in the mountains that overlooked the city and its festivities. And here we are now, gazing at the beauty of life before us. Me and Cedric.

"Do you, Alysson Drew, take this man- in sickness and in health- to be your husband?" the Father of Pompei asks.

"I do." I say.

"And till death do you part?"

"Till death," we confirm simultaenously, Cedric and I.

"Then… you may kiss."

Cedric's crying, and his face is red with joy. I kiss him, lightly at first, and then passionately. His lips part on my own, his hands grip me tightly, warmly. He runs his fingers through my hair as we kiss, his soft fingers.

When the priest is gone, we make love- right then and there, in the meadow beneath the stars, as the fireworks celebrated our wedding. A wedding no one would know about- not even the systems. A wedding that will be ours alone, for now and always.

When we're done, we gaze up at the stars, as we always do. And the stars…

…the stars…

The stars were concealed behind the hulking mass of the Covenant Cruiser, which was approaching their position far too quickly. "They will blow us out of the sky, won't they?" the Corporal asked. He knew his death was near, and the thought seemed to ruin him.

"I don't believe so, Colonel," Halcyon answered hesitantly.

"Why not?"

"The Covenant breached this place in hopes to find something. By venting them out, we proved that there is indeed something to be found."

He chuckled. "Just the two of us."

"The two of us…" A kiss, a warm kiss. Fingers rushing through my hair. "... are plenty."

"I'm finished, Halcyon. I'm done..." the Colonel revealed. "We can send the files over to Project Infinity. And then we can die."

"There is yet a key component missing, Colonel. You must tell me what it is."

"Not yet. Not until it's time."

"Why?" Halcyon asked. She couldn't understand.

"Because I want to spend my last moments with you," he revealed. "Because the truth…"

"What is it, Colonel? What is the truth?"

He ignored her. "Look. Two Phantoms. On a collision coarse with Ares. It won't be long now."

"No, it won't..." she agreed in frustration.

"What do you think awaits us, Alice, beyond the grave? Beyond death?" he asked her.

"Beyond death… there is nothing, Colonel. Nothing at all," Halcyon said.

"Are you certain?" he asked her, tears in his eyes. "Are you certain there is nothing?"

"Positively, Colonel..." I answer. "You were never one to believe in God. Staring death in the face shouldn't make you retrace your values."

He laughed again, though the tears were thick in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. As he laughed, the Covenant breached the hull again, and this time there was no air to vent. This time all they had to do was wait. "I knew you were going to say that, Alice. I always know what you're going to say."

"Colonel, the ship is flooding with Sangheili Infiltrators. Time is short. Very short..." Halcyon said. "Give me the data."

"Some things, Halcyon, are more important…

… more important…

Important….

"Some things are more important, Alice," he says.

"How dare you… how dare you call me that, when you say… when you say…"

"I'm sorry, Alysson. You know, you know how much I love you..." Cedric says.

"If you'd truly love me, you wouldn't be leaving. And for a stinking promotion!"

"I told you already. I'm doing this for humanity. For the human race. Don't you understand?" Cedric argues. I can see in the wetness of his eyes that even he doesn't believe himself fully.

"That night on Pompei, you said… you vowed… Till death do us part… don't you remember?" I beg him, oblivious to how pathetic I look. Shedding shameless tears.

"Alice, love… Those are the vows of marriage. The fact that I'm going away, that we'll see eachother less… it doesn't change what you mean to me."

"See eachother less? We won't see eachother at all!" I yell at him, tears rushing down my cheeks.

"Nonsense, we'll talk daily on wayp-"

"Shove Waypoint. I don't want to talk to my man on a video screen. I won't have it, Cedric."

He seems aggravated, as if he is surprised at how hard I took his announcement. That only makes me angrier. Am I nothing to him? Does he truly believe he can up and go away, one bright morning, after all we've been through? Was I just an object to him, for him to use until he grew bored of me?

"Alice."

"I said, don't call me that!"

"Calm down. I'm not leaving for lack of love. I'm leaving the Everlasting because the survival of the human race may depend on it. Every man has to enlist, Alysson. Every man has to distance himself from his family, his loved ones, and give himself fully to humanity. These are the times."

"That is a terrible excuse! Our work on this ship is as important as anything, you can't just abandon it for a sexier project. It doesn't work like that, Cedric!" I argue hopelessly.

"I don't understand why you're arguing. It's not negotiable. I'm leaving within the week."

Before I allow myself to come to collapse, the words seem to crawl out of my lips in a whisper: "I'm pregnant, Cedric. I'm pregnant, and we're having a baby."

Hearing this left him in silence. "I should have told you earlier, but… I wasn't certain. Now I am."

"A… a baby…" his lips quiver.

"Yes, Cedric. A boy. Our baby boy. Isn't that amazing?" I ask, smiling from behind the tears. "You should turn down that job, Cedric. Turn it down, and I… I'll quit, too. That way, we can be together openly, and I can focus on the baby. We can go down, to Pompei, live there. Seems like a nice colony. A nice place to live. We can buy a farm, just like at home, and we-"

"Stop, Alysson. Just stop."

"What do you mean 'stop'?" I ask. This is the most insulting thing I've ever heard.

"You can't lie to make me stay. It doesn't work like that. I'm leaving, Alysson."

I can't believe him. I'm shocked. "I don't care if you believe me. But... If you leave now..." I told him, my face red, wet, steaming. "Don't ever come back." I finish, and the words immediately sour in my mouth.

He looks at me one more time, angry, disappointed. "I choose humanity, Alice. Humanity over you, any day of the week. I'm sorry..." he said before turning and walking away- leaving me alone, a weeping mess of tears, fear and rage…

Tears…

Fear…

Rage...

Imminent death.

"More important…" Halcyon whispered, the words cold as ice. The Covenant were fast approaching, amassing to the other side of the tight-locked study and preparing a cutting beam. They had been found.

"Alice. Are you alright?" the Colonel asked. There were tears in his eyes, and terror.

"Something's missing, Corpral. A gap in the code. Something built into it, from the very beginning. It's the final piece, Colonel. If you tell me what it is, we can finish this. We can send it onwards and die in peace."

He laughed, the tears still glistening on his cheeks, the terror fanning a madness in his eyes. "Don't you understand, Alice? You are it. You are the missing link. You are everything that matters."

"I… I don't understand," she said.

"When I found your body, cold and lonely in the vastness of space, you had already been dead for months. But the cold temperature, the vaccume, the very thing that had you killed… it kept you in perfect condition, Alysson. Your brain was entirely intact, mummified- you might say. By then, I had been looking for you for so long that finding you dead was a bit of a relief. But it wasn't long before relief made way for a very deep depression. You see, Alice, I blamed myself- and rightfully so. I didn't believe you. I thought… I thought… the baby… our son…" he said in pain, his voice breaking, eyes overflowing.

"I should have bought us that farm, like you said. Should have forgotten everything else… that is what's important, Alice. The only thing that's important…" he said, lips quivering. "And, if not the farm… if not Pompei… I could have been with you in those final moments, aboard the Everlasting. B-b-be with you, at least. I could have told you how I feel, how I truly feel, and felt our son kicking in your womb. I could have kissed you one more time, and hold you when the moment came for the Everlasting to fall, the moment we had to die."

"Colonel…" she said, memories rushing through her mind. Images, moments, emotions. Outside, the Covenant began cutting at the seal of the doors through the lock with their concentrated beam, melting the metal and ejecting steam.

"I believe we know eachother well enough that you can call me by my name, Alysson. Call me as you did, all those years ago..." he worded it in a peculiar way, as if it was his last wish. "Call me my name, Alice. Call me Cedric."

"No…"

"They were going to cremate you, did you know that? They were going to release your ashes into the void- as if that is a respectful way to go. When I found out, I stopped them. You were still beautiful, Alysson, the most beautiful woman in the world. They wanted me to let you go. To send you away into nothing, because you had no home to be burried in. I wouldn't allow it. I couldn't…" Corporal Cedric Ceyx said.

"Cedric…" Halcyon muttered. Her mind was a blur of collapsing realities, timelines folding into themselves, descending into a swirl of faded memory. She was here and there, then and now.

"I took you to the study, right here, on this table. And I placed you in the scanner, which sent pulses all around your brain, measuring it, scanning it- every inch of your mind, replicated. At first, I was afraid it wouldn't work, because of how late you were found. I was afraid my creation had failed, and you would be lost to me forever."

The Covenant laser cutter was well past the half-way point, and the door was shaking in its hinges.

"But then… then you came to life, wearing a toga, scepter in hand, a bird chirping on your shoulder.. naming yourself… Halcyon. And I… I was so happy. To see you return to me, alive and well, the very same Alice I fell in love with. Together again, against all odds..." Cedric said with a smile, as tears dripped down his cheeks.

"Cedric, please…"

The door was screaming, burning.

"Let me speak, Halcyon. Seven years I've been watching you, and seven years I held back- knowing it's a blessing enough to hear your voice, to stare at your face and know you are her. But now we are both at the brink of death, and so I can ask you one last time…"

The door busted open in a puff of smoke and a torrent of bright sparks. Behind it, a thick cloud of smoke hid the invaders- but she could still see their dark silhouettes.

"Do you forgive me, Alice?" Cedric asked her as the creatures emerged, wielding in their hands swords of shimmering purple energy.

"Of course… of course I do," Halcyon answered confidently.

The Sangheili warrior roared at him, but Cedric gave him no mind. "That… that's all I ever wanted, Alysson..." he whispered with a smile.

A roar. A slash. Terror. Fear. A spatter of blood. And then he was dead.

Dead, but not gone.

Never gone.


	5. EPILOGUE

The moment of his death gave her a pulse of clarity.

And she, Halcyon, the AI, the machine- she died with him. Though through the shell of her shattered mind, I climb out- dripping wet with blood like a newborn child, a child that has seen death and what comes after, a child that has grown to transcend her primordial nature, to become sonething more than flesh and bone and still remain herself. A phoenix reborn from the ashes, spreading its wings to fly again.

That's who she is. That's who I am. Dr. Alysson Drew. No- Dr. Alysson Ceyx.

Halcyon will relay the final, calibrated schematics of the weapon to Project Infinity (including the missing code hidden within herself), where it will be produced and applied to the tip of the spear of the battle against the Covenant. She will send you this message, and with it my final words. And I will do everything in my power to destroy this station and all within it- I will use the weapon we have created, him and me. As we speak, she readies the work our labor. Heating, charging… I believe it will work. With our creation, Halcyon will kill them all.

And she… and I… I will do what needs to be done. To honor him. To bring him justice.

To avenge him.

Because him and I- we are everything there is. We are the only thing. And… and we are nothing at all...

Halcyon ejects the Longsword from the hangar, the Longsword equipped with our weapon. The ship where her core matrix, her chip was stored. Behind her, Ares shrinks, until it's barely visible against the pitch black darkness of space. Halcyon turns, faces the station once more. She charges the beam, feeling the cannister heat with anticipation. She aims at the weakest spot, in the center. In space, no one can hear you scream- and the explosion that consumed Ares as she carved a hole into the station core was equally silent. Their weapon, our weapon, was a success. And now, as Ares shatters into a thousand shards of debris, my love among them, I take aim at the Cruiser.

Halcyon charges forward, the Longsword reaching a frightening speed, aimed for a collision coarse. If I manage to break past their shields, I'll be able to carve the Cruiser in half. Torpedoes fire towards me, and Halcyon thrusts left, thrusts right, rolls. It won't be long now. It won't be long before we die. I breach the shields. We fire. The beam shoots out, destroying anything and everything in its wake, the collision coarse still set. In a matter of seconds, I will crash into them. I anticipate that moment eagerly, I crave it...

Beyond this physical life, the Great Journey awaits us- just me and him, alone in the starry night sky... All worries abandoned, all pains forgiven. Just the two of us, alone- and together at last. Me and Cedric, and a flight that is everlasting.

The Longsword crashes in a ball of fire. The Covenant Cruiser shimmers, shudders, breaks. Bits of purple metal scatter in the void. I am one of them.

In my final moments, as the last pulses of electricity rush through Halcyon's circuitry, I think of him.


End file.
